Drake Maye has surpassed Jacoby Brissett so far, says Jerod Mayo

Patriots

“It’s a real competition and I would say Drake has surpassed Jacoby at this point.”

The statistics show it, and now Jerod Mayo has said it.

Drake Maye has performed better than Jacoby Brissett in the Patriots’ three preseason games, Mayo said Monday morning in an interview on WEEI’s Greg Hill Show.

“I want to say this is a real competition,” Mayo said. “That wasn’t empty talk or anything like that. It’s a real competition and I would say Drake has outperformed Jacoby at this point.”

“When we say that, we have to take into account all the work that has been done,” Mayo added. “As we look back at the spring and the start of training camp, we’ll see where we end up, but those are the kinds of conversations that are going to happen here over the next few days.”

Mayo said after the final preseason game Sunday night that Maye was the second-best quarterback on the roster. On Monday morning, he was asked why Brissett had been considered the starter recently even though Maye had surpassed him.

“I would say it’s a combination of Drake getting more comfortable and moving up the ranks and Jacoby having a better handle on the operation overall. And who knows? It can change,” Mayo said. “We’ve thought all along that we have a 1A and a 1B. It’s a competition and that’s definitely a big topic in the next few days as to how we want to approach it.”

Mayo said the Patriots entered the preseason with a plan for Maye and still have confidence in that plan, even as pressure grows to start Maye immediately.

“It’s a developmental plan,” Mayo said. “We were so excited to have Jacoby here because he has a good understanding of the offense and he’s a great leader and mentor. He could mentor a guy like Drake and teach him some of the playbook and some reads and stuff like that.”

“We all know the horror stories of rookie quarterbacks who sometimes just get thrown to the wolves and then collapse. We didn’t want that. But I’m not saying that would ever happen with Drake because he’s a mentally strong person and shows resilience and ball control.”

Mayo said Maye’s development has met the Patriots’ expectations.

Mayo said he wanted to address the team before publicly announcing who the starter is. Brissett was named the starter before training camp, but Mayo has been playing catch-up in recent weeks, Mayo said.

The offensive line’s play remains a problem, but Mayo said that will not determine whether Maye will be in the starting lineup or not.

“You can’t rely on players and then look, when Drake is ready or however we evaluate the quarterback position, he’s going to go out and play. You can’t go out and say the O-line this, the O-line that. If Drake wins the competition, he’s going to be the starting quarterback, and that’s the hard part: We have to go back and see what that looks like in the future.”